Sohei

The sohei are masters of the horse and the hunt. A monastic soldier, the sohei is equally adept at combat afoot or on horseback. While skilled in unarmed techniques, many sohei favor weapons they can use while mounted on horseback or against others’ horses.

Skills

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A sohei is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor, instead of a monk’s usual weapon and armor proficiencies.

This ability alters the monk’s weapon and armor proficiencies.

Bonus Feats

A sohei may select Mounted Combat feats as bonus feats.

Devoted Guardian (Ex)

At 1st level, a sohei can always act in a surprise round even if he does not notice his enemies, though he remains flat-footed until he acts. In addition, a sohei gains a bonus on initiative rolls equal to 1/2 his monk level. At 20th level, a sohei’s initiative roll is automatically a natural 20.

Ki Weapon (Su)

At 4th level, as a swift action, a sohei may spend 1 point from his ki pool to grant any weapon he wields (including his unarmed strike) a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls, increasing by +1 per four levels after 4th to a maximum bonus of +5 at 20th level, until the end of his next turn.

Weapon Training (Ex)

At 6th level, a sohei gains weapon training in one of the following weapon groups, as the fighter class feature: bows, crossbows, monk weapons, polearms, spears, or thrown weapons. He may select an additional group of weapons for every six levels after 6th, to a maximum of three at 18th level. A sohei may use flurry of blows and ki strike with any weapon in which he has weapon training.

The original author of this archetype stated that the sohei is not intended to be able to flurry while wearing armor. The weapon and armor proficiency section of the archetype was not meant to override the restriction on those aspects of the monk.